Foreign Language Competences Required in the University Admission Examination: a Proposal for the Evaluation of Oral Aspects

This paper aims at reviewing the notion of linguistic competence, the foreign language proficiency level the Spanish Ministry of Education has established fur the Bachillerato level and the current method of evaluating linguistic competence in the Spanish University Admission Exam. A proposal is presented calling for the evaluation of oral competence to be incorporated in the test. First, competence is defined and distinguished from related terms such as ability, knowledge, skill and objectives. Then the competences established by the Ministry of Education and the different Spanish autonomous communities for Bachillerato (sixth form/grade 1 2) are examined, especially the benchmark level of linguistic competence in the primary foreign language, which is compared with the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR) and the competences mentioned in other official documents. Next, the Spanish University Admission Examinations set by the different autonomous communities are analyzed.A sharp discrepancy is found between the linguistic competences expected from Bachillerato graduates and the competence evaluated in the examination. Accordingly, the incorporation of an oral competence test is suggested to supplement the 100% written evaluation that is the current norm. Last of all, there is some discussion of the possible construct and content of the oral part of the examination (based on the grading criteria in the Royal Decree and the CEFR), the tasks and types of exercises to be included and the method for administering and correcting the test, considering the usefulness framework of Bachman and Palmer (1996), which includes validity, reliability, interactivity, authenticity, impact and practicality.The inclusion of an oral part in the examination will both better reflect the notion of competence expressed in the different official documents and show a positive washback effect.